The companies occupied the University of Pécs, Faculty of Business and Economics for a week

Companies were invited to give lectures during the week on current trends in their respective industries, business insights and how their companies are shaping their corporations and strategies to address the latest global issues. We were delighted to have some really insightful and enlightening lectures presented by the company representative. The topics of the lectures ranged from the cloud computing strategy from SAP AG, a world leader in enterprise resource planning (ERP) to how to launch a company and how to position a poorly performing company with high growth potential. This lecture was presented by Viktor Gerő, who successfully built one of the first Hungarian eBay company called Vatera in the emerging face of this market segment.

During the week the university also hosted an academic seminar where Brigitta Szabo-Balint showcased the findings of her PhD research. The event titled Who’s Career Is It Anyway?, was presented in conjunction with the Young Leader’s Forum and comprised of a presentation of results and a robust panel discussion. The panellists were a diverse mix of company representatives (Hauni, Honsa, SAP), university staff and representatives from the student body of the university. The panel discussion was an exciting debate unpacking the results Szabo-Balint uncovered and panellists added to the discussion by sharing their own experiences and opinions which was very helpful for students who will soon be entering the job market and charting career paths of their own.

Along with company presentations, the WOP Games were also held for the first time. The WOP games incorporated various games and other fun and interactive activities held on the faculty where students were able to participate and win prizes. The WOP games proved to be a great success among students as they provided a fun and exciting way for the students to get to know more about the World of Practice, their faculty as well as the companies taking part in WOP Week. The prospect of winning prizes added an exciting element of competition amongst students as they competed with each other for prizes. The WOP Pong, which was a campus-friendly version of the popular student game beer pong, and the WOP Memory Cards were some of the most popular games and drew hordes of students to the games area which was on the first-floor foyer of the faculty. A WOP Treasure Hunt was also very popular which took students around the faculty through QR codes that provided clues at check points around the campus.

The partnership and participation during WOP Week was incredible for students, the faculty and corporate partners alike. Events such as these allow students to have first-hand interactions with corporate world executives and representatives. It also allows companies the opportunity to market themselves to the students as a potential employer of choice and allows the faculty to foster and nurture important relationships with leaders of industry. We hope to have many more opportunities for collaboration through the World Of Practice and other faculty initiatives such as these. Some of the companies represented during WOP Week are Metro, Deloitte, Ipsos, W5Labs, Procter&Gamble, Honsa, SAP, suIT Solutions, Citi Group, Hauni, Lafarge, Ernst & Young, Proko Travel, Y-shift and many others. Thank you to our partners for participating in this event.